A Psychoanalytical And Feministic Interpretation Of Strickland's Escapes In The Moon And Sixpence

"The English Maupassant" Maugham is a controversial author in British literary history. His status in literature world never caught up with the first raters, but that does not weaken his popularity all over the world. The famous critic Glenway Wescott once predicted that no novelist of 20th century could have so many readers as Maugham would in the 21st century. Among Maugham's works, long novel is an area less discussed than his plays and short stories. In the list of his several long novels, The Moon and Sixpence would not stand on the top either in chronological order or in terms of significance. Morgan once said, to the acute observer no one could produce the most casual work without disclosing the innermost secrets of his soul. It is known that the hero of this novel is based on Paul Gauguin, the famous French impressionism painter. However, after a thorough analysis of this novel, the author of the thesis discovered that the value of The Moon and Sixpence does not only reside in its archetype-Paul Gauguin. The hero Strickland is more than a freak character that Maugham created, but actually Maugham's own psychological and emotional reflection.This thesis consists of five parts.The first part is an introduction. The author of the thesis briefly introduced Maugham and emphasized the significance of The Moon and Sixpence. This novel is about a painter's painting life legend. The most heated discussion around this figure is: why does he run away from his cozy home for an unrealistic dream? A lot of critics commented that his run-away is merely out of a genius painter's instinct. However, while achieving his artistic goals freely and ecstatically, Strickland inevitably hurt people around him, especially women. Is this kind of abandonment an inevitable giving up to become an artist or a deliberate doing of being a man? Because Strickland is not exactly based on Gauguin but the spokesman for Maugham himself, these two questions should be answered on the basis of Maugham's creative motives.In Chapter one, in order to shake the universal acknowledgement on the hero's motive and justify her own hypothesis, the present author makes a series of comparisons between Gauguin, the hero-Strickland, and Maugham based on athorough study of Gauguin and Maugham's biographies.In Chapter two, the author analyzes the behavior of Strickland from two perspectives-Freud's "id" theory, the pleasure principle, and sexism. Strickland appears as a typical Freudian hero in the novel. In Freud's "id" theory, an artist tends to give vent to their sexual desire by transferring to a more sublimed field such as art. Strickland's first sudden goodbye could be well explained in this theory. Furthermore, according to Freud's pleasure principle, once he starts seeking pleasure, he will never stop until he has achieved his goal. This principle can also speak for Strickland's constant escapes. As for Strickland's abusive treatment to women, two influences worked upon Maugham. Sexism is one of the most conspicuous characteristics in Freud's theories. What is more, the fact that Maugham was a homosexual strengthened his misogynistic view in this novel. Therefore, it is the combination of sexual drive and strong sexism that causes Strickland's continuous escapes.However, due to Freud and Maugham's common ground on sexism, Freudian theories cannot sufficiently justify Strickland's running away. In Chapter three, the author makes a supplementary analysis of his behavior from a female point of view. According to Beauvoir, the famous feminist, women always play a "myth" part in a man's life. In fact, Strickland's painting process is also a myth-deciphering process. The three women in his short life are like three mysterious caskets, in everyone of which there is something for him to decipher. This interest in women myth can be retraced to Maugham's another complex on marriage. Marriage played a difficult role in Maugham's life. His mum's early death and his own physical disability gradually formed his homosexual tendency. He was yearning for a no...